Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object information acquiring apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Photoacoustic tomography (hereinafter, called “PAT”) is attracting attentions as a technique for specifically imaging angiogenesis associated with cancer. In PAT, light (near infrared light) is irradiated on an object, which in turn generates from a depth therein photoacoustic waves to be received by an ultrasonic probe for imaging.
A schematic view of a handheld photoacoustic apparatus described in non-patent literature 1 is shown in FIG. 7. A photoacoustic probe 104 has a configuration in which a receiver 106 for receiving photoacoustic waves is sandwiched and fixed by irradiating ends 103b of fiber bundles 103 of an illuminating optical system. At an incident end 103a of the fiber bundle 103, light from a light source 101 enters. The light passes through the fiber bundles 103 and irradiates an object from the irradiating ends 103b. This induces generation of photoacoustic waves from the interior of the object due to the photoacoustic effect, which photoacoustic waves are received by the receiver 106.
The received signal is converted into an electrical signal, which then undergoes amplification, digitization, and image reconstruction by a processor 107 of an ultrasonic apparatus (US). The configured image information (IMG) is transmitted to a monitor 108, which serves as a display unit, and displayed as a photoacoustic image.
Non Patent Literature 1: S. A. Ermilov et al., “Development of laser optoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging system for breast cancer utilizing handheld array probes”, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2009, Proc. of SPIE vol. 7177, 2009.